Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Samson, surrounded at Gaza by the Philistines, escapes by carrying off the city gates. Then, at verse 4, loving Delilah, he is variously tempted by her at the urging of the Philistines to reveal wherein his strength lies. Overcome by her incessant importunity, at verse 17, he indicates that it resides in his hair. Delilah therefore cuts it from him while he sleeps, and thus betrays and delivers him to the Philistines. They bind him, gouge out his eyes, imprison him, and celebrate feast days and games. Finally, at verse 26, Samson, his hair and strength having grown back, shakes the two columns of the house, and by its collapse buries and crushes with himself the princes and three thousand Philistines, slaying more in dying than in living.
Vulgate Text: Judges 16:1-31
1. He went also to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute and went in to her. 2. And when the Philistines had heard this, and it had spread among them that Samson had entered the city, they surrounded him, having set guards at the gate of the city, and there waiting all night in silence, so that at dawn they might kill him as he came out. 3. But Samson slept until midnight, and rising from there seized both doors of the gate with their posts and bar, and placing them on his shoulders carried them to the top of the mountain that looks toward Hebron. 4. After this he loved a woman who lived in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah. 5. And the princes of the Philistines came to her and said: Deceive him, and learn from him wherein he has such great strength, and how we may be able to overcome him and bind and afflict him; if you do this, we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6. So Delilah spoke to Samson: Tell me, I beg you, wherein your greatest strength lies, and with what you might be bound so that you cannot break free? 7. Samson answered her: If I am bound with seven cords of sinew, not yet dried and still moist, I shall be weak like other men. 8. And the satraps of the Philistines brought her seven cords, as he had said, with which she bound him, 9. while men lay in ambush with her, waiting in the chamber for the outcome; and she cried to him: The Philistines are upon you, Samson! He broke the bonds as one breaks a thread of twisted tow when it has caught the smell of fire; and it was not known wherein his strength lay. 10. And Delilah said to him: Behold, you have mocked me and spoken falsely; at least now tell me with what you should be bound. 11. He answered her: If I am bound with new ropes that have never been used, I shall be weak and like other men. 12. Again Delilah bound him with these and cried: The Philistines are upon you, Samson, with ambushes prepared in the chamber. And he broke the bonds as though they were threads of a web. 13. And Delilah said to him again: How long will you deceive me and speak falsely? Show me with what you should be bound. Samson answered her: If you weave the seven locks of my head with a loom and fasten the pin wound about them into the ground, I shall be weak. 14. And when Delilah had done this, she said to him: The Philistines are upon you, Samson. And rising from sleep he pulled out the pin with his hair and the loom thread. 15. And Delilah said to him: How can you say that you love me, when your heart is not with me? Three times you have lied to me and refused to tell me wherein your greatest strength lies. 16. And when she was troublesome to him and clung to him persistently for many days, granting him no space for rest, his soul gave way and was wearied even to death. 17. Then, revealing the truth of the matter, he said to her: A razor has never come upon my head, because I am a Nazirite, that is, consecrated to God from my mother's womb; if my head is shaved, my strength will depart from me, and I shall be weak and become like other men. 18. And seeing that he had confessed to her his whole mind, she sent to the princes of the Philistines and commanded: Come up this once more, for now he has opened his heart to me. And they came up, bringing the money they had promised. 19. And she made him sleep upon her knees and recline his head in her lap. And she called a barber, and he shaved his seven locks, and she began to drive him away and repel him from her; for immediately his strength departed from him. 20. And she said: The Philistines are upon you, Samson! And rising from sleep, he said in his heart: I will go out as I did before and shake myself free — not knowing that the Lord had departed from him. 21. And when the Philistines had seized him, they immediately gouged out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shut up in prison made him grind. 22. And already his hair had begun to grow again, 23. and the princes of the Philistines gathered together to offer magnificent sacrifices to Dagon their god and to feast, saying: Our god has delivered our enemy Samson into our hands. 24. And the people also, seeing this, praised their god and said the same: Our god has delivered our adversary into our hands, who laid waste our land and slew very many. 25. And rejoicing at their banquets, when the feast was already taken, they commanded that Samson be called and that he should play before them. And being brought from prison he played before them, and they made him stand between two columns. 26. And he said to the boy who guided his steps: Let me go, that I may touch the columns on which the whole house rests, and lean upon them and rest a little. 27. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there, and from the roof and upper story about three thousand of both sexes watching Samson playing. 28. But he, calling upon the Lord, said: Lord God, remember me and restore to me now my former strength, my God, that I may avenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes receive one vengeance. 29. And seizing both columns on which the house rested, holding one with his right hand and the other with his left, 30. he said: Let me die with the Philistines. And shaking the columns mightily, the house fell upon all the princes and the rest of the multitude who were there; and he slew many more in dying than he had slain before while living. 31. And his brothers and all his kindred came down and took his body, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah; and he had judged Israel twenty years.
Verse 1: He Saw a Prostitute
1. HE SAW THERE A PROSTITUTE AND WENT IN TO HER — not to fornicate with her, but for some other business or mysterious purpose, says St. Augustine, Sermon 107 On the Times. But to go in to a prostitute in Scripture means to fornicate. Therefore Samson fornicated here.
Verse 3: He Carried the Gates to the Hilltop
3. AND PLACING THE GATES OF GAZA ON HIS SHOULDERS HE CARRIED THEM TO THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAIN. — Samson sinned mortally in fornicating with the prostitute, yet he retained his supernatural strength by which he carried the city gates on his shoulders to the mountain; because this strength was a grace freely given (gratia gratis data), not sanctifying grace (gratum faciens), and could coexist with mortal sin. For it was rooted in his Nazirite vow, that is, in his unshorn hair and his abstinence from wine and strong drink; and fornication did not annul his Nazirite status, and consequently did not take away his strength.
Allegorically, Samson lifting the gates of Gaza at midnight represents Christ rising from the tomb after midnight and removing the stone of the sepulchre, moreover carrying away the gates of death and hell, and from there leading forth the Patriarchs, Prophets, and all the Saints in triumph. So St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Gregory, Homily 2 on the Gospels: "Whom does Samson signify if not the Redeemer? What does the city of Gaza designate if not hell? Samson at midnight not only went out but also carried away the gates; because our Redeemer, rising before dawn, not only went out free from hell, but also destroyed the very prison of hell. He carried away the gates and climbed to the top of the mountain, because in rising He took away the bars of hell, and in ascending He entered the kingdom of heaven."
Verse 4: Delilah
4. AFTER THIS HE LOVED A WOMAN WHO LIVED IN THE VALLEY OF SOREK AND HER NAME WAS DELILAH. — One may ask whether she was Samson's wife or his concubine. St. Chrysostom thinks she was his wife. But others commonly think that Delilah was not Samson's wife but his concubine. Hence Josephus calls Delilah a harlot, as do St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, Abulensis, Serarius, and others. Hence she is fittingly called in Hebrew Delilah, that is, poverty, weakness, infirmity, exhaustion, says Pagninus, because such is the nature of a harlot; and because she weakened and enfeebled the strength of others, and especially of Samson.
See here how ruinous a woman can be. Who was stronger than Samson? Who holier than David? Who wiser than Solomon? And yet a woman destroyed these men, just as Eve destroyed Adam and all his posterity. Hear St. Jerome, Epistle 22 to Eustochium: "Samson, stronger than a lion and harder than a rock, who alone and unarmed pursued a thousand armed men, melted in Delilah's embraces." And St. Ambrose: "Samson, mighty and strong, strangled a lion; but he could not strangle his own love. He broke the bonds of his enemies; but he did not break the chains of his own desires. He set fire to others' harvests; but kindled by the little flame of one woman, he lost the harvest of his own virtue."
Finally, Delilah, betraying Samson through his hair, was a type of Judas betraying Christ through a kiss, as the Fathers teach.
Verse 5: Eleven Hundred Pieces of Silver
5. WE WILL EACH GIVE YOU ELEVEN HUNDRED PIECES OF SILVER. — A silver piece, that is, a shekel, was a Brabantine florin. Multiply eleven hundred by five (for there were five satrapies and satraps of the Philistines, namely Ekron, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gaza, and Gath), and you will have five thousand five hundred Brabantine florins, for which Delilah sold Samson.
Verse 7: Seven Sinew Cords
7. IF WITH SEVEN SINEW CORDS — that is, cords made and twisted from the sinews of oxen, bulls, or other animals. Samson lies in order to mislead Delilah and put her off, so that he will not reveal the secret of his strength to her.
9. HE BROKE THE BONDS AS ONE BREAKS A THREAD OF TWISTED TOW — that is, from the refuse of tow that is typically trimmed away and discarded, the cheapest and weakest thread.
Verse 16: His Soul Was Wearied to Death
16. HIS SOUL GAVE WAY AND WAS WEARIED EVEN TO DEATH — that is, he was reduced to the greatest anguish and distress of spirit, so that he almost preferred death to that most contentious quarrel and importunity with his Delilah. Thus the devil and the flesh conquer many by the continuation and prolongation of temptation — those who at first resisted most bravely: for gradually their spirits languish and are enervated, and at last they allow themselves to be conquered, yield and succumb, unless the help of God, continually implored, is present.
Verse 17: The Secret of His Strength
17. IF MY HEAD IS SHAVED, MY STRENGTH WILL DEPART FROM ME. — From this it is clear that this admirable strength, surpassing the powers of nature, was a quality supernaturally implanted in Samson, but with a pact — namely, that he would persevere as a Nazirite and would not cut his hair. Hence, because through his own fault — by revealing to Delilah, his enemy and betrayer, the cause of his strength — he lost his hair by a furtive shearing, God therefore withdrew this strength from him. He would not have withdrawn it if he had lost his hair without fault, through disease, fire, or some other accident.
This gift was a quality not transitory but permanent, so long as he remained a Nazirite and crowned with hair — not that the hair caused this strength (for it resided in his muscles, sinews, and whole body, and even more in his spirit); but that keeping his hair was the condition and sign of the Nazirite state and of the divine pact, and therefore the moral cause of this strength by God's ordinance.
The literal reason why Samson's strength lasted as long as his hair did was that while his hair remained, he himself remained a Nazirite, that is, consecrated to God. The allegorical reason was that through the hair of the Nazirite, Christ the Nazirite and the Nazarene was represented, from whom all strength proceeds. The tropological reason was that hair signifies the thoughts and intentions of a person; for just as healthy hairs sprout from a healthy head, so from a good mind arise good thoughts, from which the strength of all virtues germinates. The symbolic reason was that God might indicate that this was His gift — for by what logic could a worthless strand from the head by itself cause such great strength?
Verse 19: She Made Him Sleep upon Her Knees
19. AND SHE MADE HIM SLEEP UPON HER KNEES. — Delrio thinks that Delilah gave Samson poppy and other soporifics in food or drink, so that he would sleep more deeply. Others add that she gave him wine, which in Sorek was of the finest quality. Hence Josephus also calls Samson drunk; St. Ambrose and St. Basil hint the same.
AND HE SHAVED HIS SEVEN LOCKS — that is, the seven curls that composed Samson's hair. Allegorically, just as Delilah cut the hair of Samson, so the Jews during the night of Christ's Passion, mocking Him, plucked or shaved His hair.
AND SHE BEGAN TO DRIVE HIM AWAY AND REPEL HIM FROM HERSELF; FOR IMMEDIATELY HIS STRENGTH DEPARTED FROM HIM. — Such is the nature of harlots: they drain the wealth and strength of men, and then repel them once poor and destitute.
Verse 21: They Gouged Out His Eyes
21. AND WHEN THE PHILISTINES HAD SEIZED HIM, THEY IMMEDIATELY GOUGED OUT HIS EYES — so that even if his strength returned, they would render it useless. Samson blinded by the Philistines was a type of Christ whose eyes were veiled in the Passion by the Jews who mocked Him. So St. Augustine.
By a just and fitting punishment Samson was deprived of his eyes, because with them he had lustfully gazed at and desired Delilah. "Because they had misused their sight," says St. Jerome, "Samson and Zedekiah are deprived of it." Yet this punishment was salutary for him; for through the blindness of his bodily eyes, the eyes of his mind were opened, so that from the punishment he recognized his guilt, repented of it, and in his repentance called upon God, and thus returning to grace with Him, received his strength back from Him.
BOUND IN CHAINS AND SHUT UP IN PRISON THEY MADE HIM GRIND. — "To grind," that is, they forced him to turn and push around hand-mills with which slaves formerly ground grain in the mill-house.
Verse 22: His Hair Began to Grow Again
22. AND ALREADY HIS HAIR HAD BEGUN TO GROW AGAIN. — It is likely, says Abulensis, that Samson then returned to his senses, did penance for his fornication and imprudence, and again observed the rule and way of life of the Nazirites; and thus reconciled himself with God, and as his hair grew back he gradually recovered the gift of strength.
Tropologically, St. Paulinus, Epistle 4: "A person who has been overtaken by some sin, and by salutary repentance returns to the restoration of grace, as if with hair growing back — strong with certain sinews of good conscience and firm faith, he will dare to attack and will be able to overturn the columns of his enemies."
Verse 23: Sacrifices to Dagon
23. TO OFFER MAGNIFICENT SACRIFICES TO DAGON THEIR GOD. — What and what manner of god Dagon was, I will discuss at I Kings chapter 5, verse 2.
Verse 25: He Should Play before Them
25. AND HE SHOULD PLAY BEFORE THEM. — Dancing and performing movements. Behold, the Philistines here mock Samson as a buffoon, just as the Jews mocked Christ in His Passion, saying: "Prophesy, who is it that struck you?" See to what indignities Samson, judge and prince of Israel, was reduced.
Verse 26: The Two Columns
26. THAT I MAY TOUCH THE COLUMNS ON WHICH THE WHOLE HOUSE RESTS. — Samson here was a type of Christ extending His hands to the two ends of the cross, by which He crushed and overwhelmed the demons, sin, and hell. Thus He Himself, slain, crushed His slayers, and His passion became the destruction of His persecutors, says St. Augustine.
Many think that this house was a sacred building, that is, the temple of Dagon. For at verse 23, the Philistines are said to have offered sacrifices to their god Dagon there. Private houses are not so spacious as to hold three thousand spectators; but there are many temples capacious enough for this.
Verse 30: Let Me Die with the Philistines
30. LET ME DIE WITH THE PHILISTINES. — This is a synecdoche. The soul cannot die, since it is immortal. The meaning is: Let me die, provided that the Philistines also die. Let me crush with the ruin of the building the Philistines, the enemies of Israel, even though I myself must be crushed by the same ruin. By my death let me purchase the death of the enemy and the life of my fellow citizens.
St. Augustine responds that Samson did not sin, because he killed himself by God's impulse: "The Spirit had secretly commanded this — He who worked miracles through him." Samson here did not properly and physically kill himself, as he would have done had he run himself through with a sword; rather he merely permitted himself to be crushed in the common ruin with his enemies, just as Eleazar, seeing the royal elephant, placed himself beneath it and killed it, and permitted himself to be crushed by its falling weight, in order to liberate the people (I Maccabees 6:46).
St. Ambrose, Epistle 70, says that Samson conquered himself in death: "Although he was incomparable in this life, yet in death he conquered himself and bore an unconquerable spirit. It was a mark of virtue that he closed his day with a count of victories, and found not a captive's exit but a triumphal one. He was buried not under weapons but pressed under the corpses of enemies, covered by his own triumph."
AND HE SLEW MANY MORE IN DYING THAN HE HAD SLAIN BEFORE IN LIVING. — For in dying he killed all the princes of the Philistines and three thousand of the people. This is what Samson intended — to inflict an enormous disaster on the Philistines, by which he would free the Hebrews from their servitude. By his death he brought forth life and liberty for his people. And in this he was a type of Christ, who slew more in dying than in living; because by His death He enervated the powers of the demons, of sin, of death, and of hell, and freed us from their yoke. For, as St. Paulinus says: "In the passion of Christ the house of the devil fell, and the kingdom of death was dissolved."
So our Edmund Campion, the Samson of England, who was the first of the Society of Jesus to fall nobly for the Orthodox faith, converted more in dying by his piety, modesty, fortitude, and cheerfulness, than while living by his preaching. So the martyrs gave life to more in dying than in living, because they converted more by their patience, constancy, and eagerness in death than while living by their exhortations. For indeed "the blood of the martyrs is the seed of Christians," says Tertullian.
Symbolically, learn here how vain are strength, wealth, and all the things of this world. Behold muscular Samson, who perished by his own strength. So too Milo of Croton, who used to kill a fierce bull with his fist and carried it on his shoulders for a mile, perished by his own strength.
Samson and Hercules
Finally, many think that from the story of Samson the Gentiles borrowed the deeds and fables of their Hercules; since in truth Hercules was none other than Samson. So Philastrius: "The pagans, adopting strong men from the figure of Samson, called them Hercules." St. Augustine: "Samson, the judge of the Hebrews, being wonderfully strong, was thought to be Hercules."
They prove this: first, because most of the fables of the Gentiles were taken from Sacred Scripture. Second, because Hercules is said to have lived in the same age as Samson. Third, because Hercules was famous and worshipped as a hero by the Tyrians and Palestinians — and right there, in Judea, Samson flourished. Again, Hercules fought not with a sword but with a club; so too Samson slew the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, like a club. Fourth, because Hercules in Greek was a symbol of the sun; and Samson in Hebrew means 'little sun.' Fifth and most importantly, because the deeds of Hercules are similar and almost identical to the deeds of Samson: the Nemean lion of Hercules is the lion of Timnah; the two columns of Hercules are those which Samson shook; the shameful servitude of Hercules under Omphale proclaims Samson's wantonness with Delilah and his bitter servitude; and his voluntary death on Mount Oeta signifies the voluntary death of Samson.
Finally, in the life of Samson that saying of Hercules is plainly seen: "My right hand is better for me than my tongue."